Lubrication system for power heads and the like



C. GROEN May 15, 1934.

LUBRICATION SYSTEM FOR POWER HEADS AND THE LIKE Filed D90- 27, 1932 5'Sheets-$heet 1 Mia/emi r- May 15, 1934. c. GROEN 1,959,203

LUBRICATION SYSTEM FOR POWER HEADS AND THE LIKE Filed Dec. 27, 1932 3Sheets-Sheet 2 C. GROEN May 15, 1934.

LUBRICATION SYSTEM FOR POWER HEADS AND THE LIKE 3 Sheets-Shet 3 FiledDec. 27, 1932 Patented May 15, 1934 UNITED STATES LUBRICATION SYSTEM FORPOWER HEADS AND THE LIKE.

Christopher Groen, Dubuque, Iowa, assignor to A. Y. McDonald Mfg. 00.,Dubuque, Iowa, a corporation of Iowa Application December 27, 1932,Serial No. 648,894

2 Claims. (01. 184-11) This invention relates primarily to a lubricationsystem which is adapted for certain classes of machinery, notably apower head for operating a deep well pump. The features of improvementinherent in my invention were first disclosed in my power headapplication, Serial No. 580,929, which I filed December 14, 1931.

It is a primary object of this invention to provide a simplified, yetpositive, means by which to feed a lubricant to a selected point in avpower head mechanism, as, for example, a distributing center from whichoil may flow or drop to various places requiring more or less constantlubrication. Such a system should be dependable in operation, require noattention or adjustments, and involve only the minimum of expense,number of parts, etc. These various objectives are attained by myimproved lubrication system which utilizes gear mechanism for liftingoil from a reservoir on to a pinion along whose horizontal shaft the oilis then flowed through a spiral groove to be then forced radially andupwardly to a center for distribution to various pointsrequiringlubrication, the oil feed being maintained continuously and positivelyas long as the gear mechanism is in operation.

An exemplification of the invention is clearly illustrated in theaccompanying drawings in which Figure 1 is a side elevation of a powerhead, partly broken out, to illustrate parts that would be otherwisehidden from view;

Fig. 2 is a view partly in rear elevation and partly in verticallongitudinal section, with certain parts broken away, the lineof-section being indicated at 2-2 of Fig. l; v

Fig. 3 is a view partly in plan and partly in horizontal section takenon line 3-3 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a detail vertical section through the transbearing bracket,taken on line 4- of Fig. 3; 1

Fig. 5 is a view partly in plan and partly in horizontal section of theoil distributor and transbearing bracket taken on line 55 of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 6 is a fragmental vertical longitudinal section of the pumpmechanism, taken on line 66 of Fig. 3.

Referring to the drawings which illustrate one embodiment of theinvention I have shown an open-topped casing 6 rounded in its bottom andsupported uponfeet 7 which may be bolted or otherwise secured to theplatform of a well in the usual manner. The feet are connectedsubstantially to the casing as by flanges or webs 8.

The rear of the casing has a reentrant wall 9 the contour of whichconforms generally to two spaced gears which are mounted within thecasing. Extending centrally between the front and rear walls of thecasing is a bracket 10. At one side of the casing is shown a filler pipe11,, closed by a screw plug through which fluid lubricant may beintroduced, a drain opening, closed by a plug 12, being locateddesirably at the opposite side. of the. casing.

Bolted or otherwise secured to the feet of the casing is a dischargehead 14 from which may depend a drop pipe 15 for connection with a pumpcylinder (not shown). The piston rod 16 which operates the pump extendsthrough a stuffing box 1'7 in the top of the discharge head, upon whichI may also mount an air pump 18 having its plunger stem 19 connected tothe piston rod by a bracket arm 20.

I The upper end of'the piston rod is detachably connected to a crosshead 21 which is reciprocated by suitable power mechanism. Bydisconnecting the piston rod from the cross head and the discharge headfrom the feet of the casing, the piston rod and connected parts may beshifted rearwardly of the casing permitting withdrawal from the well ofthe pump cylinder assembly. This may be accomplished without disturbingthe power head setting in any degree due. to disposition of the pistonrod within the space defined by the reentrant walls of the. casing, butexteriorly thereof.

The trans-bearing bracket is bored to provide bearings 22 and 23 inwhich are journaled, respectively, a drive shaft 24 and a driven shaft25 having intermeshing pinions 26' and gears 2'7. The side walls of thecasing may be provided with openings in line with the bearing aperturesto facilitate preparation of the bearings and insertion of the shaftstherein, plugs 28 being thereafter applied to the openings by. frictionto close thesame.

The driven gears 27 which are made fast to the shaft 25, as by setscrews 29, also function as crank wheels. They are provided with severaloppositely disposed bosses 30 adapted to receive wrist pins 31 toprovide connections with pitmen 32 which are pivotally joined to thecross head 21. The several pairs of bosses 30 are spaced at differentradial distances. from the axis of the crank Wheels. to provide forvariation in the stroke of the pitmen.

Inasmuch as the crank wheels are confined in, restricted spaces in thecasing, I have devised a novel wrist pin assembly for each pitman. Asshown, each wrist pin is formed with a head which bears against the boss30. The shank of the pin extends through a bushing 33 which is fittedwithin the bearing aperture in the pitman, a castellated nut 34 beingthreaded upon the pin end, as shown.

The bearing face of the pitman is provided with an oil groove 35 throughwhich lubricant may be distributed over its entire surface in engagementwith the bushing. Pins 36 rigidly secured in coaxial alignment with eachother in the cross head 21 project from the ends thereof to enterapertures in the upper ends of the pitinen. The pitmen are held in placeon the pins 36 as by washers and cotter pins 37.

As by bolts and nuts 39 I connect to the cross head a clamp block 38,the piston rod 16 being received within seats between these parts, andthere held by the friction resulting from tightening of the clamp block.Above the cross head the piston rod may be screw-threaded for connectionwith a windmill rod or other device, as desired.

For the cross head I provide an upstanding guide which may take the formof a pair of rods 40 having their lower ends 41 anchored within socketsin the casing (see Fig. 2).

At their upper ends the guide rods are connected by a block 42 to ahollow brace rod 43, the lower end of which is anchored to thetrans-bearing bracket 13 as at V 44 (see Fig. 6), the upper ends of theguide rods V being thereby rigidly supported. The guide and brace rodsextend through the block 42 and are threaded to receive nuts 54 and 55by which the block is clamped fixedly in place between the guide rodsand brace rods.

A positive and simple oiling system has been provided for supplyinglubricant to all of the moving parts of the present mechanism. Thisincludes a pump which is incorporated with and made a part of thetransmission. A quantity of fluid lubricant is contained in the bottomof the casingto a level which contacts with the crank gears. Inoperation, the teeth of the gears carry some of the oil to the pinions26. At this point, some of the oil is expressed from between the teethfor travel to other places which require lubrication.

As shown, oil inlet ports or passageways 45 are formed at the ends ofthe drive shaft bearing,

, these passageways being located adjacent the sides of the pinions 26which receive oil from the crank gears (see Fig. 3). Some of thegearlifted oil flows along the trans-bearing bracket on opposite sidesof a central web 46 to oil holes 4'7 located above the driven shaft 25.The transbearing bracket is sloped inwardly towards its central web andalso longitudinally toward the bearing for the crank gears, as shown inFigs. 2 and 4, thereby providing shallow troughs through which the oilflows in a pre-arranged manner.

ends. with opposite ends of the spiral grooves are pro- The oil pumpmechanism is incorporated with the drive shaft 24 by forming thereinoppositely pitched spiral grooves 48 which join with an annular groove49 intermediately of the shaft Other annular grooves 50 also joiningvided in the drive shaft at points in register with the passageways 45.A discharge port 51 (see Fig. 6) is arranged in the bearing at a pointwhich registers with the intermediate groove 49, and at this same pointthe hollow brace rod 43 is and out upon the overhead oil distributingblock.

Formed in the upper surface of the block is an oil channel 52 having twobranches that lead to points adjacent the sides of the guide rods fordischarge of oil into shallow cups 53 formed in the upper face of thecross head. Each cross head cup surrounds one guide rod to assureadequate lubrication thereof. The excess of oil discharges over low damsand through channels at the ends of the cross head to flow to the pins36 in which are oil grooves for distributing the oil lengthwise thereof.Additional oil will either drip down or flow along the pitmen tolubircate the wrist pins on the crank gears. The fiow of the oil whichis governed to some extent by the pitch of the spiral grooves in thedrive shaft should be sufficient for continuous delivery to the overheaddistributor and points therebelow to lubricate the cross head and allassociated parts.

Power is applied to the drive shaft 24 from any convenient power source,such as an electric motor 56. Desirably a motor base 5'7 is providedwhich, in the form shown, is a rectangular plate secured slantinglyabove the front wall of the casing by bolts 58. Brace bars 59 mayconnect the upper end of the motor base fixedly to the casing side wallsin the manner shown. The drive shaft 24 which extends out through anopening in a side wall of the casing is equipped at its ends with apulley 60 around which is trained a belt (or belts) 51 that passes overa belt pulley 62 mounted on the motor shaft. The motor is adjustablycarried upon its base and by means of an adjusting screw 63 may beshifted to tighten the belt as required.

In order to enclose the power mechanism, a hood 64, preferably formed ofsheet metal, is rested upon a ledge surrounding the upper edge of thecasing. The hood extends upwardly inside of the motor base to a pointslightly above the oil distributor block. A clamped cap 65 rests uponthe upper open end of the hood and may be clamped thereon by a pair ofnuts 66 threaded upon the upper ends of the guide rods and hearingagainst the cap. By removing the cap, the hood may be lifted from thecasing without disturbing the motor base or any other parts, thus makingthe entire operating mechanism accessible from all sides.

I provide also means which store up energy during the down stroke of thecross head and utilize the stored up energy during its upward or liftingstroke. For this purpose I employ a pair of coiled compression springs67 encircling the guide rods and confined under tension between thecross head and the bearing adjacent the lower ends of the guide rods.The springs, the same as the associated working parts, are enclosedentirely within the casing and hood.

The guide rods are disposed equi-distant from the piston and arearranged in line therewith in order that the springs may exert abalanced pressure against the cross head. It will be noted that thedriven shaft is located close to the guide rods and piston rod, so thaton the upward stroke the pitmens thrust will be nearly in line with thepitmens guides. These springs are lubricated constantly by the oil fedfrom above, and so will operate with a minimum of friction.

I claim:

1. In means to lubricate power heads and the like, the combination witha casing adapted to contain a quantity of fluid lubricant, of twoparallel shafts, one slightly higher than the other and each rotatableabout its own axis, intermeshing gears, one movable through thelubricant, carried on the two shafts, bearings for the two shafts, atroughed bracket extending between the two bearings and inclineddownwardly from one to the other, there being passageways in the twobearings receiving lubricant elevated by one gear and expressedtherefrom on to the higher end of the troughed bracket by the othergear, a cross head having bearings located above said trough bracket,means operatively connecting said cross head to said gears, and acontinuously acting pump mechanism consisting of the higher bearing andshaft journaled therein, said shaft having a spiral impeller extendinglengthwise thereof through several convolutions, adapted to continuouslyforce the lubricant along the shaft and thence away therefrom through asecond passageway formed in the same bearing, and a conduit inconnection with the last named passageway for leading the oil so pumpedto a desired point above said cross head for gravity flow to saidbearings.

2. In means to lubricate power heads and the like, the combination witha casing adapted to contain a quantity of fluid lubricant, two shafts,one slightly higher than the other and each rotatable about its ownaxis, intermeshing gears, one movable through the lubricant, carried onthe two shafts, bearings for the two shafts, a trough bracket extendingbetween the two bearings and inclined downwardly from one to the other,there being passageways in the two bearings receiving lubricant elevatedby one gear and expressed therefrom on the higher end of the troughbracket by the other gear, a cross head having slide bearings locatedabove said trough bracket, means operatively connecting said cross headto said gears, and means cooperating with one of said bearings and itsshaft for forcing and conveying lubricant from said bearing to saidcross head for gravity flow to said slide bearings.

CHRISTQPHER GROEN.

